Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-04-28
UN THE OKEEFINOKEE.
General F1oyd's Scouting Expedi-
ton After Billy Bowlegs.
Captain Sterne Tells What Befe,l Himself
and His Superior In the swamp
While Trying to '.I,out Out"
Old Billy.

"You kin mighty nigh al'us tell the
difference 'twixt a Georgy man an a
Flureedian by the way he calls the
name O. that ere swamp" said Cap
tain Sterne, as we sat before blazing
fire in his big log house among the
pines. '.Flureedians say 'Okyfnoke,'
and then Georgy people what lives in
the fiat woods. says 'Ofykinoke.' bout
half Their time. They git the name
terribly mixed, an make a mess O.
things. ginerly.
''What started to tell We bout wus
the time we N Giner'l Floyd went a
bear hunt'n. You see Giner'l Floyd
was the best Injun fighter beyant. an
the Gove'ment 'p'inted him to take is
men an rout old Billy Bowlegs out'n
that ere swamp. Old Bill, you know,
wus the head boss NV all the Injuns, in
them days. an while he was ruther
peaceable hisse'f, he had two NV the
torn-downdest villyuns under i'm that
ever cussed the yearth with Their ill
begotten shadders. These wer' Tag
.gertail an ole Mico. They'd come out
an raise rumpus, m the whites 'ud
get after 'em, an they'd just nat'lly
dive into that ere swamp like it wus
wash hold in the river Onct in there,
an all the devils in Yeurrup could n
do noth'n' with 'em.
1.-The very mint Giner'l Floyd was
pinted he cOnsated a scheme to rOut
'em out o there, N he gethered all Nv
lis men an drilled 'em n regulated
'em SO s Their could'n be no slipence.
as the boys wen they makes bad
shot a playin' marbles. l was cap'n
NV squad NV scouts m rangers, an
~Giner'l Floyd he sot lots o store by
me. was to march ahead fust an fin
out the bes' way to Git in to the ilants.
1knowed ole Bowlegs by sight. Wen
we was all frien'ly l useter see i'm
often at Traders Hill. wher' he'd come
to trade. He uSeter bring his two
boys, big strappin' yaller-legged fel-
lers. long with i'm. He called one
Billy Buster, beca'se he WIS so fleshy,
an 't'other Billy Harvey, beca'se the
boyd hearn Giner'l Harvey, cuss an
tuck up the habit
1.-The fus' day we came nigh the
swamp we had to splash long though
saw-permeter an gallberry bushes. an
bay-gallS wher' the water was knee
deep then, an that was in ruther dry
time. AT last we came to the big
swamp. bout shutdown. an camped
Giner'l Floyd had sent serer'l Wagons
'roun' by ole Fort White. an 'roun'
tother side o the swamp. with grub
for the army when they got though
the swamp. Mex mo'rnin'. at the
peep o day. we ms up m off. N fore
long we got good into it. The mud
WIS so soft an deep that we couldn'
git along. so l tuck Giner'l Floyd TO
one side N. SEES l: 'Gincr'l. Their hain't
but one way ter git though this ere
bog. an that is to cut down saplins
IN cut EN- into chunks n commence
layin' 'em down bout good step
apart. Let every teller gether up a
chunk, step firm chunk to chunk till he
gifts as far as they're laid. then put his
chunk bout step further on. an we
kin soon have a good crossway in to
the fust liant.
''Giner'l Floyd seed the notion was a
good 'un, SO he put 'em all to work. n
by twelve o'clock he had good cross
way built into the first liant. Soon rs
we got there we begun to s'arch fur
1njun sign, but we didn't find moth n.
but some old meat scaffils an two er
three holes where they'd built Their
fires. SO we struck camp. That night
we wus all purity lively. an some O. the
boys purposed that as we'd diskivered
a new an unsettled kentry. we d per-
feet right to name it, n then he said a
whole rigermarole bout he t resolved
and SO on. windin' up with namin' the
new islant 'Floyd's liant We all Sec
inded the motion, N no dickens eff
that ere name hain't stuck to it ever
seace.
''Nex' o'nin', afo'day. 1 went to
.aner'l FLOYD N walked i'm up. N ses
1: Giner'l, s'pose'n we go an see
what's t'other side o. this ere liant
afore we go any furder. Eff hits big
lake. wy Wen halter change our co'se.
Eff hits only a loblolly mash we k,ay
be able to ford it He greed to It, an
-takin' our guns. eg'lar old long-tawed
rifles, they wus, we started eff. alter
cautionin' the boys to be plum ready
,g'nst we got back.
1--WE went straight east'ard As nigh
a. we could come at it. and soon struck
high. dry hammock land. as rich -